Following two defeats from their opening three Premier League games, Arsenal already have a fight on their hands to secure a place in the top four. Winning the Europa League could be their best shot of sealing a return to the Champions League after two years away.

After reaching the semi-finals of the competition last season, Arsenal appointed a bonafide Europa League expert in the summer with three-time winner Unai Emery brought in to replace the long-serving Arsene Wenger in the dugout.

During his time with Sevilla, Emery won the Europa League three years running, beating Benfica, Dnipro and Liverpool to the title. With the Europa League draw now complete, here are the teams that Emery’s Arsenal must defeat to progress through to the knockout stages.

Group E – in full:

Arsenal

Sporting CP

Qarabag

FC Vorskla

Fixture schedule:

20 September: FC Vorskla (home)

4 October: Qarabag (away)

25 October: Sporting CP (away)

8 November: Sporting CP (home)

29 November: FC Vorskla (away)

13 December: Qarabag (home)

The opponents:

Arsenal face two long-distance journeys to Azerbaijan and Ukraine in the Europa League group stage as well as a trip to Lisbon to face Sporting CP.

Pot 2 seed Sporting are likely to be Arsenal’s biggest challengers for top spot in Group E after finishing third in the Portuguese Primeira Liga last season. Although they lost Rui Patricio, William Carvalho and Gelson Martins this summer, Sporting did retain midfield playmaker Bruno Fernandes and signed ex-Manchester United winger Nani for a third time.

Azerbaijan’s Premier League champions Qarabag are also in the group and they will be looking to perform better against Arsenal than they did against Spurs in this competition three years ago and against Chelsea whom they faced in the Champions League last season. Qarabag lost all four of those meetings against Arsenal’s London rivals, including 6-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Ukrainian side FC Vorskla Poltava round off the group courtesy of securing third-place in their domestic league last season behind Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev. It was their highest league finish since 1997 and this will be only their second time in the Europa League group stage.

We know that sometimes it’s easier for us to come to you with the news. That's why our new email newsletter will deliver a mobile-friendly snapshot of inews.co.uk to your inbox every morning, from Monday to Saturday.

This will feature the stories you need to know, as well as a curated selection of the best reads from across the site. Of course, you can easily opt out at any time, but we're confident that you won't.

Oliver Duff, Editor

By entering your email address and clicking on the sign up button below, you are agreeing to receive the latest daily news, news features and service updates from the i via email. You can unsubscribe at any time and we will not pass on your information.